Coil winding machine



Jan. 9, 1940. P. E. CHAPMAN COIL WINDING MACHINE Filed April 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 9, 1940. P. E. CHAPMAN 2,185,820

COIL WINDING MACHINE Filed April 29, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IIIHHHHHHH HHHHHIHII H lllHHllllHllll HIIH HH Patented Jan. 9, 1940 I I v Q t: I

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,186,820 COIL WINDING MACHINE Penrose E. Chapman, St. Louis, Mo.

Application April 29, 1985, Serial No. 18,800

'16 Claims. (Cl. 242-9) The object of my invention is to make a coil as 20' and' 2| and make the roller 25 relatively winding machine that will be quickly and conhard, as by doing this the calibration is indetinuously adjustable within its capacity for all pendent of the wear and/or compression of the the size variations that occur in winding coils. friction surface. That no adjustment shall interfere with any Contact edge 25'-0f roller 25 (shown enlarged 5 other adjustment. in Fig. 3) would be most perfect if it were pos- That it shall be capable of distributingthe sible to make discs 20, 2| and roller 25 cones, windings longitudinally in layers or random. the apexes of which would be at the intersec- The advantage of these features will be obvious. tion of their axes. Owing to the fact that the In the drawings: preferred liners 20', 2| of the discs 20, 2| are m Fig. 1 is a general perspective partly in section. rubber and will therefore form themselves slightly Fig. 2 shows details of the reverse mechanism. to the contour of the roller 25 it is possible to Fig. 3 isa detail of the friction roller discs. make the face 25 of said roller conical so as Fig, 4 is a, cross section of the traverse carto simulate conical action, and thereby reduce riage and associated longitudinal elements. the di f r tial s ippa e that must occur where 15 To accomplish my object, a winding spindle a straight faced roller, rolls against a revolving l0 may be mounted in any suitable fashion and sc- I therefore in addition to Slightly rounding driven by any suitable source of power. I prefer the corners of the roll face 25' or roller 25 to to use an electric motor II to mount and drive prevent cutting. give it e 81 t ead. the said spindle. The roller 25 is supported by a shaft 26 that The word wire will herein be used to include 1 rried by bearin s 2 -28. The end thrust all forms of elongated material that may be the roller and its Shaft 25 is taken p y wound in coils, roll the ball and socket joint 29 which is connected Means for causing the winding wire to traverse through link 3 to an adjustin anism de- 25 the length of the coil are driven from the said scribed hereinafter. 25

spindle Ill by any suitable form of coupling. In. To render the adjustment of the roller 25 with some machines changeable gearing is desirable reference to the discs 20 and 2| independent for or as part of said coupling. Many means for of other functions I prefer to mount a lead screw doing this may be employed, as cone pulleys and 3 as a quill p d Shaft yi g it to the 30 belt, pick off or quick change gears, cone sprocksaid shaft by any suitable method as key 32.

e'ts with chain, or other equivalent. Sprockets While the bearing 23 Supports Shaft d -and shiftable chain were preferred in the maly only, it is mounted to c as a t ust ea chine illustrated. The cone sprockets l2 and f the t eaded quill 3L Collars 33 Secured to i2 are'mounted on an extension of the spinthe said lead screw transmit the thrust strain dle m. Mating sprockets l3 and I3 are mountto sleeve bearing 34. .85 ed on jack shaft IS. The chain I4 maybe placed The s e y 0 0 5 y be considered a on either sprockets,l2 and I3 or [2' and I3 thus traverse Carriage ts and may include altering said driving ratio. y appropriate tooling a gu de 48 and sheave A jackshaft I6 carrying the sprockets l3 and 9- 40 I3 drives a disc-roller feeding element or as- Worldng on the lead screw 3| is a. carria 1 sembly through gear I! which' it carries and tuating nut ll. This nut is loosely and rotatably which meshes with a driven gear l8 that is semounted in the traverse carriage 0 a Po ion cured to the spindle l9 which in turn carries which P t y e c c es the Said nut in the a pair of friction discs 20 and 2|. groove ll so that a longitudinal motion. only Playing between these discs is a wheel or roller 01 the nut w he imparted to the d car a e. 5 25 adapted to be frictionally driven by either n the nut I form a holding surface 42 which disc according to which one it may be pressed y be 0! y yp but is own as a po y n against, thus providing means for reversing. in this particular machine.

Disc-roller drives usually have the roller faced To prevent the nut rotating due to the action with the softer or friction material and the discs of the machine I apply to this polygon or other 50 hard. This arrangement makes calibration of type surface a spring pressure such as may be the device impractical as when the roll wears, or applied by the spring 43. While this spring will if rubber tired the rubber compresses, the ratio prevent the rotation of the nut due to the operaat a given setting changes. I prefer to line the ticn of the machine it is so proportioned that the discs 20 and 2| with rubber or other friction faces nut can be turned by hand, the knurled end ll" 55 being provided for this purpose, thus providing a spotting adjustment.

Traverse carriage I prefer to clampably mount upon and secure to the adjustable traverse or carriage rod N which is slidably mounted in any suitable bearings as it and 41.

At any convenient point along its length the traverse rod may carry any suitable tooling for guiding the wire 50, as guide sheave 4| whose supporting shank 0' is shown secured in the coupling or tool post I upon said rod 4!. The wire it passes over guide sheave 49 on its way'to the coil ll being wound. Said coil is supported by the winding spindle l0.

The adjustability'of the traverse rod 45 and the guide support or coupling 48 provide ample means to adjust the machine for coil size and position as is obvious.

To adjust the feed to the size of the wire to be wound I couple the roller 25 and its shaft II to any suitable means of adjustment as the rack and pinionmotion it, It. In this particular machine the ball and socket joint is, hinged link II and the extension of the rack were selected for the said coupling.

The pinion It carries any-suitable actuating handle as knob I! upon and/or near which I may place calibrating scale such as I1 and II.

In order to reverse the feed at the end of the traverse I oscillate the roller 25 from either disc II or II to the other. It is also necessary that this be done at great speed. As a convenient method of accomplishing this, I may provide a shipper rod upon which may be threaded stop nuts H and II. Said shipper rod 00 is yieldably attached or coupled by means of springs ll, I3 and washers Ii to oscillating transfer element or bell crank lever H, N and appurtenances. The carriage l0 actuates this shipper rod at the end of the travel by means of the actuating finger portion ll of the carriage ll that engages either of the said stop nuts.

Upon said shipper rod I may mount some means, as button 82, for tripping the trigger ll, spring 04 holding said trigger in position.

In order to press the roller 25 against either of the discs 20 or 2| bearing 21 which carries the roller shaft 28 is mounted in any manner that will permit it to move toward one or the other disc but not transversely. In this particular machine I have chosen to form it as part of a link with the bearing 21 at one end and a bearing 21' at the other end the latter being supported by the pin 24 which in turn is supported by any suitable framework as the bracket 24'. The oscillating or reversing motion of the roller 25 I prefer to impart by moving the bearing 21 by an oscillating transfer element, or lever, as the bell crank lever 65. In order that oscillatory motion be yieldably imparted to roller 25 it is desirablethat a spring be included in its train of actuating elements. Many arrangements will do the work nicely, as a single transmission or actuating spring or a tensioned, centre stopped, pair of transmission springs such as the following:

Attached to the bearing 21 is a contact point or anvil such as the pin it that may be subported by any suitable means, as bracket III. Carried by the transfer element 05 is a pair of pre-tensloned springs l8 and 88'. These springs.

one of which is arranged to press up and the other down, act against pin 69. When idle both of these springs press against the spacing member I! that is in turn carried by the finger OI aisasso stitched to the transfer element ll. mess twnsprings O1 andli'aresoformedthattbey press against the spacing member 01 with about all thetension thatwouldberequiredtopress roll II against either disc 20 or II. By this arrangement practically the full tendon is applied to the roll without the initial wind up hard that would be necessary were the spring free or at 0 tension.

Bell crank fl may be supported by any suitable means, pivot screw I! having been used in the machine illustrated. As a portion of the said .bell crank structure the arm ll may be secured to its hub. I provided a dog 12 as part of said arm for engaging the latch 68 on the trigger it. The latch I is so proportioned that when dog 12 is on one side of it the roller 18 will be held against one disc and when it is on the other side of it the roller will be held against the other disc which reverses its rotation.

To instantly change the roller from disc to disc at the end of the traverse it is necessary that the slow motion of the shipper rod ll be translated into an instantaneous one. To accomplish this it is desirable to couple the shipper rod .0 to the transfer element or bell crank it with another pair of transmission springs that are tensioned and centre stopped, although one spring will dothe work nicely. Helical springs as 13, I3, Fig. 2, are preferable here. They are freely mounted over the shipper rod II, and abut against suitable shoulders as nuts I! and '2' carried by said shipper rod.

On their other ends these springs abut against washers ll and II which in turn abut against collar 14 on said shipper rod ll and hold said springs under tension.

Between the said washers II and II the arm II of the bell crank ll plays in such a manner that when the shipper rod 80 is moved one of the springs II or 'll'will press its washer against said arm H the other spring being rendered inactive because its tension is taken against the collar H through its washer I! or 15. Arm 1| being completely released from the tension of said spring which is also carried beyond the travel of said arm. The arm will however be retained in position as it is locked against trigger stop or latch l3 until the trip button .2 contacts with one of the trip faces 8" when said trigger and latch 08' will thereby be pressed away from the dog 12 so as to release it, whereupon the acting spring 'I! or 13' snaps the dog across the trigger latch II and in doing so moves the roller 25 from one of the discs 2. or II to shipper rod returns, and looks it. This motion is reversed at the other end of the traverse.

Owing to the fact that successive layers of wire are of necessity right and left hand spirals, and to take up any slack in the mechanism, in winding some coils it is highly desirable that at the moment of reversing the feed to wind the succeeding layer the feed roll supported by the carriage be given an initial motion usually as a quick start back, independent of the normal action of the lead screw Ii. tion should occur simultaneously with the reversal of the lead screw it is convenient to accomplish this in connection with the motion of the rocker arm 8!. On some sizes of wire and As this initial mocoils this start back is very desirable. On others 1 ,it shouldbe of 1m magnitude or ---vanish en- 'entirelyn machine a selection of the desired train of actu- In order to accomplish this initial motion I prefer to move the lead screw 3! longitudinally which of course will move the carriage 4| and its appurtenances with it. It would be therefore quite'convenient to actuate the said lead screw with the aid of the bearing 28 which isthe thrust bearing of the said screw.

To accomplish this I may pivotally mount the said bearing upon the lever II which is pivoted to the frame work at its lower end, secured to hearing II by the trunnion 28' and in turn connected to and actuated by the bell crank 65 through the connecting rod ll. Connecting rod II is secured to nut 80 by any flexible means as clevis 8i.- 7 This nut is coupled to the bell crank I by means of the bracket 82 thereon and the screw ll. Turning this screw 83 by means of its head 84" will either move the nut up or down. In its lower position it may be directly in line with the axis of the bell crank 85 and would therefore impart no motion through the connecting rod" lever ll bearing 28 to the lead screw 3i. If however this nut is elevated by means of this screw If it becomes a lever and will impart a motion through the connections 7 just described to the lead screw 3i, carriage 40 and its appurtenances.

In operation the element to be wound is secured to the spindle in by any suitable means. The feed sheave 49 is adjusted to the diameter of the work by' means of the guide support 18. The stop nuts Ii and Ii are screwed back far enough to provide ample traverse, the machine is revolved by means of the motor until the carriage approaches one end of its travel whereupon the carriage rod 45 is unclamped from the carriage and moved so that the bottom of the groove in the guide sheave 48 is approximately in line with the end of the element to be wound. Any angular adjustment of the guide sheave 49 is accomplished by turning the carriage rod 45,

V which is then reclamped to the carriage by means of screws 4|. In this position the appropriate stop nut as '1 or ii is screwed up until the trigger 83 releases the dog I2, at the end of arm H of bell crank 66, which is then snapped over into the reverse position shifting the roll 25 from one disc to the other which reverses the feed as has been previously described. The machine is again revolved until the guide sheave 49 is in line with the reverse end of the element to be wound. The other pair of stop nuts are screwed up until the trigger permits the bell crank'to snap into reverse position.

If the wire and package are of such size that the action of the start back is desirable the screw I3 is turned by its head 84 so that the nut 80 is moved froni the neutral or lower position to an appropriate upper one which will cause the carriage to start back at the moment the bell crank snaps over as has been previously explained.

To set the pitch or feed for the size of wire the size knob U is turned till the index 51 or 58 (if any) indicates that the mechanism is set for the size wire to be wound. Turning this size knob moves the roller 25 radially along the discs 2|, 2| by the mechanism that has been explained changing the speed of the lead screw 3i and its appurtenances.

As it is not possible to provide suflicient variation in the disc-roller elements for all the sizes of wire that may be appropriately wound on one ating gearing as l2, It, or It, it, is then made and .it is coupled up as by placing chain ll thereon.

The carriage is set at the desired starting point, the wire I threaded around the feed sheave ll, secured to the element to be wound and the machine started. If there should be an error in the selected pitch or rate of feed the size knob I1 is rotated enough to bring the feed and the diameter of wire into agreement. This will leave an accumulated error which is compensated for by manually revolving the carriage nut 4| until the feed sheave lines up with the work. When the carriage reaches the endof its travel the reverse elements trip and it starts back as has been described.

My invention lies mostly in the general principles underlying the device used to reveal it and only to a small extent in the physical structure thereof, which is, therefore, susceptible to many variations without departing from said invention.

I therefore wish to claim 1. In a wire winding machine, a reversible traverse mechanism comprising a double disc and roller assembly, a traverse element for guiding the wire being wound driven by said roller, a transfer element for oscillating the said roller from one disc to the other to effect reversal of movement of the traverse element, a shipper actuating said transfer element, stops upon said shipper arranged to be contacted by said traverse element.

2. In a winding machine having a reversible traverse element, means for imparting an initial motion to said traverse element consisting of an actuating wheel mounted upon a shaft, a lead screw driven by said shaft but movable longitudinally independent thereof, elements connecting said lead screw to said traverse element, an oscillating transfer element for effecting reversal of movement of the traverse element, an adjustable lever associated with said transfer element, a connection from the said lead screw to said adjustable lever, whereby when the transfer element is moved the lead screw will be moved along its supporting shaft, the adjustment of said lever permitting the amplitude of the motion imparted to the lead screw to be varied.

3. In a wire winding machine a feeding mechato reverse the traverse means, one arm of said lever being composed of a pair of pretensioned springs.

4. In a winding machine traverse elements combining a carriage, a lead screw. a rotatablymounted carriage nut coupling said lead screw and said carriage, and means for restraining the rotation of said nut consisting of a spring attached to said carriage arranged to press on a portion of said nut.

a) In a wire winding machine, having reversible traverse elements for guiding the wire as it is being wound, adjustable means for causing an initial start back of said traverse elements as the end of a movement thereof in one direction is reached, consisting of an oscillating transfer lever, an adjusting screw mounted upon said lever, a nut moved by said screw, a connecting rod, a thrust bearing, said rod connecting said nut and bearing, and a longitudinally movable lead screw restrained by said thrust hearing, but movable longitudinally when the thrust bearing is moved. said adjusting screw being so placed upon said transfer lever that it acts as a lever for moving the thrust bearing, the effective length of which may be altered by turning said screw causing said nut to approach or recede from thecenter of oscillation of said transfer lever substantially as described.

6. In a wire winding machine, having reversible traverse elements for guiding the wire as it is being wound, adjustable meansfor causing an initial start back of said traverse elements as the end of a movement thereof in one direction is reached, consisting of an oscillating transfer lever, an adjusting screw mounted upon said lever, a nut moved by said screw, a connecting rod, an oscillating lever supporting a thrust bearing, a thrust bearing, said rod connecting said nut and oscillating lever, and a longitudinally movable lead screw restrained by said thrust bearing, but movable longitudinally when the thrust bearing is moved, said adjusting screw being so placed upon said transfer lever that it acts as a lever for moving the thrust bearing, the effective length of which may be altered by turning said screw causing said nut to approach or recede from the center of oscillation of said transfer lever.

7. In a winding machine, the combination of means for winding wire, an adjustable disc-roller feeding element, means for coupling said winding means and feeding element, that said feeding element may be operated simultaneously with said winding means, a lead screw coupled to the said feeding element, a lead screw nut, a traverse element that carries said lead screw nut, said traverse element being actuated by the feeding element through said lead screw nut, the nut being rotatable in said traverse element upon the lead screw, and means for yieldingly holding the nut against rotation in its mounting, whereby operation of the feeding element causes positive movement of the traverse element, and the traverse element may be spotted at will by turning the nut against its yielding holding means.

8. In a winding mechanism the combination of a rotary motor, the driven shaft of which projects beyond the ends thereof in opposite directions, a support on which the wire is wound, carried by the shaft projecting from one end of the motor, an adjustable disc roller reversing drive element connected with the shaft projecting from the other end of the motor, a wire guide for laying the wire on the support, a lead screw driven directly by the roller member of the drive element and a traverse carriage on the lead screw connected with and moving the wire guide, the lead screw being parallel with the driven shaft of the motor and located close to the motor side.

9. In a winding mechanism the combination of a rotary motor, the driven shaft of which projects beyond the ends thereof in opposite directions a support on which the wire is wound, carried by the shaft projecting from one end of the motor, an adjustable disc-roller reversing drive element connected with the shaft projecting from the other end of the motor, a wire guide for laying the wire on the support, a lead screw driven directly by the roller member of the drive element, as traverse carriage on the lead screw connected with and moving the wire guide, the lead initial start back motion as its direction of movement is changed.

10. In a winding mechanism the combination of a rotary motor, the driven shaft of which projects beyond the ends thereof in opposite directions, a support on which the wire is wound, carried by the shaft projecting from one end of the motor, an adjustable disc-roller reversing drive element connected with the shaft projecting from the other end of the motor, a wire guide for laying the wire on the support, and a lead screw driven directly by the roller member of the drive element, a traverse carriage on the lead screw connected with and moving the wire guide, the lead screw being parallel with the driven shaft of the motor and located close to the motor side, means for imparting to the traverse element an initial start back motion as its direction of movement -is changed and means for manually imparting movement to the traverse element independent of the motion imparted thereto by the operation of the lead screw, for the purpose of spotting the wire guide.

11. In a wire winding machine the combination with means for rotating a support upon which the wire is wound and a guide for laying the wire in spiral layers uponthe support, of an adjustable pitch feedingelement for moving the wire guide consisting of a pair of friction discs spaced apart upon a driven shaft and a roller engageable with and driven by the said discs, a shaft upon which the roller is mounted, bearings supporting said shaft, in one of which, located near the roller, the shaft is slidable, such bearing being pivotally supported so it may be swung to cause the roller to engage with one or the other of the discs between which it lies and a thrust bearing for the end of the shaft'distant from the roller and supported to move therewith as the shaft is longitudinally adjusted in its swinging bearing.

12. In a winding machine the combination of means for winding wire, guiding means for laying the wire while being wound, a traverse element for operating the guiding means, a shipper mechanism for changing the direction of movement of the traverse element as the courses of wire being laid are completed, means for operating the shipper mechanism from the traverse element and means for translating the slow motion of the traverse element to a short instantaneous motion as the laying of a course of wire is completed, such means including a trigger latch for holding the shipper mechanism while a course of wire is being laid, means operated at the conclusion of a movement of the traverse element in one direction for tripping the latch and a transmission spring coacting with the shipper and the tripping means, said latch holding the shipper mechanism while the spring is being tensioned and the spring operating to move the traverse element with a short snapover action when the trigger is tripped.

13. In a wire feeding mechanism, in combination a reversing mechanism comprising a pair of friction discs between which is located an oscillating friction wheel, an oscillating mounting for said wheel, a transfer element for moving the oscillating mounting for the friction wheel, a shipper for operating with a snap-over action to move the transfer element and transmission springs between the transfer element and the shipper.

14. The combination recited in claim 13 wherein the transmission springs are pretensioned to a degree required to press the friction wheel against the friction disc with the desired force.

15. In a winding machine, the combination of means for winding the wire upon a support, an adjustable disc-roller reversing element, a shaft supporting the roller member of the said reversing element, movably supported so the roller may be adjusted to efiect change of speed, a lead screw coaxial with the shaft and rotated thereby but free to have a limited longitudinal movement thereon, a traverse element operated by the lead screw for controlling the laying of the wire that is being wound, and means for imparting to the lead screw and traverse element an initial start back motion, without moving the shaft on which the lead screw is supported, at the moment the direction of motion 01 the traverse element is changed.

16. The combination stated in claim 15 including means for efiecting a reversal of movement of the traverse element and a connection between said reversing means and the lead screw whereby the latter is given a short longitudinal movement when the reversal means are operated.

' PENROSE E. CHAPMAN. 

